Finding Mark & Benny
by moonswirl
Summary: <html><head></head>Gleekathon, day five hundred and fifty-three:  Project NDBT #2  Puck and Rachel gather up to discuss the casting of two more in their Rent project.</html>


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 26th cycle. Now cycle 27!_

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><p><strong>"Finding Mark &amp; Benny"<br>Rachel/Puck, Artie, Finn  
>Project No Day But Today #2 (sequel to 'Rachel Requests Rent') <strong>

Walking through the halls of McKinley High being one of only two people being in on this project right now… It felt like power, two strong. They'd know it, sometimes, from just a look as they crossed each other in the halls… Since the day Rachel had recruited Puck though, they hadn't had the chance to get together and discuss a course of action. She was getting anxious for it though; he could tell.

When she gave him the signal, in passing, it took a moment for him to understand, but doing it again for himself he worked it out: meeting that afternoon, after Glee. The next time he saw her, he gave a small nod, to tell her he got it, and she nearly flipped; he supposed he was meant to be a bit more secretive… It was odd what a little more time spent together could do. Weeks ago he would have shrugged and dropped the whole thing, but now… she oddly made sense.

So after Glee practice, he gathered his things and got up. He reached in his pocket when he felt his phone vibrate. It was a message from Rachel. He looked up and found her talking with Tina and Mercedes; she still had her phone in her hand. He looked back down to read the message, which told him to meet at her house in half an hour. He responded, saying he would be there, and he was on his way. As he crossed the trio of girls on his way out of the room, he briefly heard Rachel tell the others that she had to go.

He beat her to her house, so he waited out on the curb. When she arrived, she ushered him into the house, and he wondered if this was more of her freaking over his nod in the hall. She didn't say anything though, so he didn't ask – no sense in creating problems if he could get around it. Once again they set up in the living room – and they were indeed set up. Rachel had told him to sit and wait and, when she returned, she was carrying an easel mounted with a chart. By now the names printed there were familiar to him, characters… Each name sat on top of a blank square. Two of those squares were filled, with a picture of him in the square under 'Roger,' and a picture of Rachel under 'Mimi.' Resting against the chart were a stack of what he saw were photos of the other members of New Directions.

"Where did you get there?" he asked.

"Research," she simply shrugged.

"Right…" he looked back to the chart. "So how do we do this? I'm kind of thinking you've figured it out already," she gave an impressed smile, then obliged on his assumption and got up, clutching the stack of images.

"Well, there's two options. We can cast first, ask second, or we could hold auditions, but that might be casting too wide a net…" he could see she might not have been as figured out as she thought, so he offered up an idea.

"Why don't we just go at it piece by piece? Like two at a time for the other main six, then we figure out what to do with the rest when we're there." She considered this.

"And if word gets out…"

"'If?' Remember who we're talking about?" he asked, and she silently nodded… of course it would get out. "This was your idea, your show. If they don't like it the way you say it, then they don't have to do it," he shrugged, and when he looked back at her she was just smiling like she'd been given power solidified. He'd given her that, given her his absolute faith in her, but just for good measure, he put it into words. "This thing of yours, I've got your back," he bowed his head, offering his hand. She stepped around the chart to get within reach, but before she would put her hand in his, she made a correction.

"this thing of ours… and yes, you do," she put her hand in his. Now he was the one smiling; he liked the sound of it.

"Where do we start?" he asked, and she let go of his hand, sitting back by his side and looking at the pictures.

"You already had Artie in for Mark, and I… completely agree," she pulled out his picture, setting it aside. "So at this point I think we need to find Benny next," she fished out all the guys' pictures and laid them out on the coffee table. They both started to look at the options, silent at first. Puck had an idea after a moment, but he could see Rachel was still pondering, so he pretended like he was, too. He could tell… she had an idea, she just wasn't sure… He didn't know what it was she wasn't sure about, but if she was left to it on her own, her head might explode.

"Well, my vote goes to Finn," he spoke, and she looked at him. From the look on her face, he could tell that was exactly what she'd thought, too. "So what's the problem?"

"Nothing," she insisted at first. "I'm just wondering if he'll be up for it."

"Not a lot of dancing, how can he say no to that?" he asked, and even as she tried reprimanding him she was smirking.

"Well I guess we can try," she conceded. So Puck picked up Finn and Artie's pictures as he got up and went to post them in the 'Mark' and 'Benny' squares.

"Tomorrow I'll talk to him about it, and you talk to Artie?" She nodded.

The next day, Rachel arrived at McKinley a woman on a mission. Walking down the halls she had just one goal: Find Artie, read him into the project and, hopefully, get a yes. Puck had made a 'subtle' suggestion that she try not to come on too strong, so she kept that in mind. She found Artie at his locker and, rather than approaching him, sent a text to meet in a class she knew would be empty at this time. He looked back, confused, so she just gave a nod and headed to the room in question. She just hoped he'd show up at this point, and wouldn't just write her off as crazy. But then there he was, still with that confused face. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to talk to you about a project of mine, but before I go on you have to promise not to say a word about it to anyone. "The secret aspect must have been right up his alley, because he wheeled up, looking confused no more.

"What kind of project?"

"Call it a… covert… Glee Club… production," she started.

"With you so far," Artie nodded. "Why covert though?"

"We're doing 'Rent,'" she revealed, and as expected it was all he needed to know 'why covert.'

"So not even Schuester knows?" he asked, and Rachel shook her head.

"You can't tell the others yet either," she warned.

"Who else is in this so far?"

"Me, Puck, and hopefully either now or later today, Finn," she laid out the currently very short list. "And you, if you're in."

"Who would I play?" he asked, and she knew at least he was familiar with the material.

"You'd be Mark," Rachel revealed, and he just about immediately held out his hand. He was in. "Welcome."

For his 'target,' Puck would wait until they would meet in second period. There were no other Glee members in that class except him and Finn, so it would be as isolated as he could hope. Rachel had informed him that, per their having been together, she had already 'schooled' him in the ways of Rent, so he would know what Puck would be talking about when he brought it up.

He usually sat two rows over from Finn, but instead he moved to sit at the desk next to him, 'kindly' suggesting that the kid sitting there at the moment should move, which he did. At the very least the fact that they had more or less made up would help in getting this conversation to happen. "Hey."

"Hey," Finn replied.

"I need to ask you something. Can we keep this between us?" Finn hesitated, but then he nodded.

Puck would later send a message to Rachel, reading 'We're on for Benny.' Her attempt to keep her voice down as she reacted was only about half-successful, and from her teacher's face, she was lucky not to get detention. She very carefully texted back, saying they would discuss this again in a couple of days. Now they had half their main cast, and she was already… well, they were already thinking about the rest, the next step, the next pair…

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>**********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******** **


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